My current hearing aids do not work properly. I am guessing they are about 5 or 6 years old. Sorry guys, I’m getting old and my memory isn’t as young as it used to be. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. It’s a love and hate relationship. However, when they do work I cannot adjust the volume without the Phonak ComPilot amplifier. It wouldn’t be wise for me to repair them since they’re not even worth it and the warranty expired. I might as well purchase a new set of hearing aid devices.

To my surprise, I was tidying out some drawers at my mother’s house and found my previous hearing aid devices. I was a bit shocked and stared at the box for a few minutes. I stood there without moving and smiling. I couldn’t believe I forgot about them. I remember these hearing aids gave me less problems. I heard better and clearer. Voices didn’t sound so hollow.

As I am currently typing for this blog, I am wearing the old hearing devices. See picture provided above. These are ITEs (in-the-ear) hearing aids. I always wore BTEs (behind-the-ear) hearing aid devices. I remember getting these for one reason only. Students in middle and high school noticed my hearing aids because they were big and visible whenever I wore the behind-the-ear hearing aids. It was easier for them to pop behind my ears and yell for no reason. I couldn’t do much to hide them.

So I got these set of hearing aids, the inner ones to hide them and match the color of my skin. Once I wore these, my life changed forever. No more bully, depression, and anxiety. No more arriving home with headaches. No more special treatments from high school teachers because they couldn’t notice I was wearing hearing aid devices. No more bruises behind my ears because I wear glasses too. These hearing aids are old, almost 12 years old. Holy cow! They work better than my current ones. I swear it doesn’t sound funny or hollow. I don’t need to wear the amplifier too. These have adjustable volume using my finger. Not sure if it’s compatible with the Bluetooth. I don’t think so and I don’t plan to try it. Too scared to break them. The background noise is reduced as well. A valuable lesson learned here. Never donate your old set of hearing aid devices because you never know, you might need them at desperate times.

Many of you know my debt story. Most of you guys are aware that I just paid off my school loan debt using my emergency funds. It is true that I could’ve used my emergency funds to purchase a new set of hearing aids. I choose not to for a reason. I just got promoted, paid a huge bill for the pyogenic granuloma index finger surgery, got my #13 extraction tooth surgery, and last month I paid off my debt. All of these will be reported once I do my taxes for 2017. A nice large deduction here. The smart decision is to purchase the new set of hearing aid devices compatible with my cell phone using Bluetooth by next year and report them for 2018 taxes. Also, never donate or lose your old glasses too because you might need them someday too.